Union Sees Nationwide Impact from US Gov't Furloughs - Article Review Essay Example

The Professional Aviation Safety Specialist (PASS), one of the United States labor union, have been monitoring an issue raised by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employees on furloughs and sequestrations. Mostly the concerns have been on aviation maintenance, efficiency and performances immediately the furlough policy was enacted. In efforts to respond to financial strain on federal programs, the federal government considered furloughs approach among the civil servants among measures to take to limit its expenditure. PASS, as a union-represented over 11,000 employees among them being aviation safety inspectors and flight personnel. The union raised concerns as it felt that the approach by the government would have a catastrophic impact on the industry. Typically, sequestration-related furloughs meant that some workers were to be placed temporarily on non-duty and non-pay status to keep in lower federal expenditure on salaries and wages.

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According to the union, sequestration furlough was an extreme approach. Actually, by taking into consideration a situation where the airports and traffic control systems across the country became faulty the unavailability of personnel would result in deferred work and flights delays. For example, Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport was once affected by its radio, and telephone communication capability was lost. The problem broke out due to inappropriate weekly battery discharge tests. At the time of breakdown, the most reliable and experienced specialists were on furlough, and the experts on site would not rectify the issue. Unfortunately, even though the only expert who would repair the systems resided near the facility, he would not act because of restrictions placed on furloughed employees. Therefore, the airline had to endure unnecessary delays, which would otherwise have been avoided.

In another similar case at Long Island Mac Arthur Airport, a glide slope failed, therefore, obliging the Southwest Airlines flights to divert to Baltimore-Washington International Airport. According to the aviation safety policies, the equipment should have been restored immediately, but the maintenance had to delay to the next day. Afterward, the weather heaped on in the night, and the glide slope destroyed extending the period flights had to be diverted. According to PASS, there were numerous cases and vital impacts of the policy across the nation, which included open watches, deferred preventative maintenance and delayed outcomes among others, which ought to have been deliberated before implementing the strategy.

However, the article would have conferred the immediate and lasting impacts of the policy. For instance, sequester cuts affected the FAA Airways trust fund budget used to finance construction and safety improvements at the airports. The trust fund is used to cover both capital and operating costs in the airlines. Therefore, it became difficult for FAA to attain its objectives in funding technological upgrades in the airline's traffic control departments leading to delays and obliging them to offer substandard services. Despite the limitation of the article, from the time of implementation, it was evident that furlough policy would cause havoc with the majority of the affected parties condemning the act. For instance, Delta Air Lines expressed their disappointment and warned its customers on the possibility of prolonged delays.

In conclusion, a sequestrated furlough would strain employees on duty and negatively affect airlines performances. In fact, although the government intentions were to formulate a model where they would control and manage their expenditure, which has been cumulating every year this cost them more than they would save. Typically, in the aviation sector, furlough meant few air traffic controllers, delayed flights and decreased number of flights in the country primary in some of the busiest terminals, which would cost more than the sequestrated cuts.

References

Union sees a nationwide impact from US gov't furloughs. - Version details. (2013). Trove. Retrieved from https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/195062720